Effect of Mounting Errors on Cardan-Type Universal Joint Kinematics

Homogeneous coordinate-transformation matrices are used to analyze a Cardan-type universal joint whose input and output shafts do not intersect because of mounting tolerance errors. It is found that such mounting errors induce double-frequency axial motion at the output joint of magnitude comparable to that of the error. To avoid this sliding motion it is important that the offset between the input and output axes which results from mounting errors be held to as close a tolerance as is possible.